Well I finally got rid of the CJ sad to see it go but on to the next project. Ended up at a used car lot to find a beautiful purple beast, 96 ZJ. NP242, D30/35, NP242, Auto and only 80k miles! First order of business was to dyno it and see what kind of monster numbers it would put down. It laid down an impressive 112 hp @4700rpm and 128ft/lbs @4000rpm. To address this I got a new 3 inch summit cat back exhaust (sounds like a pissed off vacuum now), 3 in high flow cat, new accel cap/rotor/wires/plugs, an K&N air filter, and Accel coil. (ended up replacing the accel coil because it was bad from the factory). After 400 some dollars we ended up pushing the dyno to its limits and cranking out 142hp and 162ft/lbs of torque. I really woke up the old tired jeep and didn't shift as often but the exhaust is a little much for me and sticks out wayyyy to far and hangs low. Bigger tires and lift was needed. Iron rock offroad 3.5 inch f/r lift with adjustable front and rear track bars, d tech 8000 shocks, rubicon express steering stabilzer, some 32x11.50-15 pro comp xtreme all terrains and some pro comp steel wheels with 3.75 in backspacing. After a painful install, mainly because of all the seized bolts, it all got put together. Just had to take the sawzall to the front bumper and get an alignemt. It'll do 65-70mph on the highway no problem. It does have a little bumpsteer but it is not bad and some play in the steering wheel but it is not bad. I haven't had much time behind the wheel and only a little time on the trail with it since I am now back at WVU. I am very happy with all the upgrade so far and it took the little mall crawler and made it into a mall crawler but with a little more attitude. Hitting every little bump will remind you that you are driving a unibody vehicle with stock control arms. It is a build in progress though. The dana 35 is a tad sketchy but will do for now. Next I have to install the IRO transfer case skid and try to find a winch bumper that I like but isn't going to kill my college kid budget. Some future upgrades will be the winch bumper, unibody stiffeners and some sort of rock rails. I will post in a couple of weeks to give the full update on all the upgrades and maybe get a little trail ride in over my labor day break. Shoot some questions if you have them about anything and I am looking for any ZJ parts out there and also will be hunting for a full time Mechanical Engineering Position in the Pittsburgh area.
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